Golden Mile Food Centre – cheap & good Beach Road food places

Golden Mile Food Centre must be one of the best hawker centres in Singapore that are not listed in the usual travel sites and tourism brochures. Not many tourists visit this two storey food centre on Beach Road. That may be good for locals in the know – the place is not swamped by hordes of camera-toting visitors and prices are not inflated. In the Beach Road-Jalan Sultan area, Golden Mile Food Centre is one of the best places for cheap and good food.

Golden Mile Food Centre

Built in 1975 to accommodate resettled hawkers from the old Jalan Sultan street market, Golden Mile Food Centre is also known as the “Army Market”. National Servicemen and Reservists (or Operationally Ready NSmen) have been visiting the shops on the top level for years – buying mess tins, groundsheets, boots, service ranks and even combat helmets and rifle firing pins.

Golden Mile Food Centre is located near the Crawford Street end of Beach Road, opposite Singapore’s Little Thailand (Golden Mile Complex and Golden Mile Tower). The food centre is next to the Kampong Glam Community Club and Kampong Glam Park and the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque, a gazetted national monument, are nearby.

The food stalls are in the basement and level 1 of Golden Mile Food Centre. There are quite a number of Muslim and Indian food stalls but there is great diversity. Popular local favourites like chicken rice, satay and char kway teow as well as Peranakan fare, Thai food, muffins, ah balling peanut soup and gourmet burgers can be found there.

Kheng Fatt Beef Noodles (瓊发海南牛肉粉)

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Kheng Fatt Beef Noodles (瓊发海南牛肉粉) has been dishing out quality tasty beef noodles from the same location for decades. Each bowl of beef noodles is made to order.

We tried the dry version of the beef noodles with beef slices and meat balls ($5). The gravy not starchy and sticky but flavourful. There were strands of beef in the gravy. The noodles were smooth and had a good bite. The beef slices tender and the beef balls chewy. The chilli sauce with chinchaluk (shrimp sauce) provided was a real bonus – making the dish stand out from your average beef noodles.

Yew Chuan Claypot Rice (酉川沙煲饭)

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Yew Chuan Claypot Rice (酉川沙煲饭) is one of the most popular stalls in Golden Mile Food Centre. Don’t be deceived by the lack of queue at the stall. Waiting time for the cook to order claypot rice of at least 15 minutes would be the norm.

You have to find a place to sit before you go and place your order. Give your table number and pay and you will be given a set of tableware and chilli. The food will be served to your table when it is ready.

The claypot rice ($6) arrived looking very attractive. It was fragrant. It came with tender chicken, vegetables, Chinese sausages and salted fish cubes. You add oil and soya sauce to suit your taste. It was a very delicious and enjoyable dish.

Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice (海南起骨鸡饭)

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This stall does not have a proper name other than the descriptive Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice. The menu board can be quite confusing. The stall attendant will ask you what you want and you just have to tell her and she will tell you the price.

We tried the roast chicken rice ($3.50). The breast meat was tender and tasty. The chicken rice was fragrant but a tad on the hard side. The chilli was good. On the whole, it was a cheap and good chicken rice meal.

Burgs by Project Warung

Burgs by Project Warung was founded by 3 young chefs who wanted to change the halal culinary scene. They started their first stall in Golden Mile Food Centre offering gourmet burgers and chicken wings at affordable prices.

We tried The Classic Burger ($4.90) which was served with fries. It was a good burger and great value for money.

75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup (花生汤圆)

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75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup (花生汤圆) have been selling glutinous rice balls for decades. They still make their rice balls by hand at the stall.

There is a choice of 5 types of filling and 4 soup bases.

We had a bowl of 4 rice balls with ginger soup ($2). The rice balls had a slightly chewy yet firm texture. The fillings were generous. The ah baling was the epitome of cheap and good comfort food – very satisfying and relishable.

Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly (诏安祖传仙草粿)

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Zhao An Granny Grass Jelly (诏安祖传仙草粿) sells just grass jelly or chin chow, with or without toppings. Their chin chow is still served in a traditional blue and white bowl and with a metal spoon.

We had a bowl of the Grass Jelly with nata de coco ($1.50, additional $0.50 for toppings). The grass jelly was very smooth and had a nice texture. It was a very refreshing way to wash down a heavy meal.

Other Popular Stalls at Golden Mile Food Centre

There are many other popular food stalls in Golden Mile Food Centre. The names of the stalls usually let you know what they are selling. Below are unit numbers and photos of a few of the popular stalls (based purely on the unscientific means of observing the length of the queue at the stall) which may help when you are wondering what to eat at Golden Mile Food Centre.

Keng Heng (Whampoa) Teow Chew Lor Mee

Fei Zhu Traditional Teochew Noodles

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Traditional Teochew bak chor mee with chockful of ingredients.

SL II Muffin

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Freshly baked muffins in a wide variety of flavours.

Golden Mile Food Centre might be a bit under-rated compared to the more famous hawkers centres in Singapore like the food centres of Maxwell Road, Amoy Street and Tiong Bahru. However, it must be one of the best places in the Beach Road-Jalan Sultan area for cheap and good food – definitely a convenient spot to enjoy a variety of good local fare when visiting or exploring the interesting and vibrant neighbourhood.

The place is sort of in between MRT stations and the nearest station may be Nicoll Highway MRT station; but it is not too long a walk from the Bugis Station or the Lavender station either.

We are simply writing as everyday folks about our own experience. Any comment on the food or service or the overall quality of our experience is just an expression of our opinion and is strictly based on what we experienced on our visit to an eatery on a particular day. Information in any blog post is correct as of date of publishing; please check with the restaurant/cafe for updated information. Read About Us.

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